5,593 posts
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Post by lynette on Dec 5, 2021 12:02:49 GMT
Best production of this play was and remains for me, the 1977 (76?) with Judi Dench and Michael Williams and many other stalwarts. You can see it as it was filmed. It was out of this world, made into a mini musical but not overbearingly so and it was very, very funny. Judi Dench the perfect outraged wife. I’m happier with two actors for each set of twins. All the running about if you only have one actor per set takes away from the flow of the piece and the poignancy at the end.
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Post by Jan on Dec 9, 2021 7:32:45 GMT
A generous 3* from me for this. Not a single laugh from the 25% full house before the interval but an improvement afterwards. Master of comedy Philip Breen has been hung out to dry here really, a production that I can see might have been good fun outdoors in summer has been dumped onto the Barbican stage with no scenery or set at all beyond a patterned floor and with the actors reduced to shouting into the void and miming things (the door that is key to the plot) for no good reason when you have the resources of the Barbican stage at your disposal - as a result no connection between cast and audience. Also the main actor it was intended to be built around Miles Jupp has gone. Really it should have transferred to a smaller more intimate space, it would have even been better on that Guildhall stage in the Barbican complex that Cheek by Jowl used to use. However the main reason I'm inclined to be generous is I only paid £10 for a stalls seat via TodayTix.
William Grint very good, one of the few who seemed to have a natural talent for comedy.
I've seen the play quite a few times but for the first time here I noticed how unequal the two pairs of parts are, two leading roles and two supporting roles really - that's why they can cast a star (Lenny Henry at NT, or Miles Jupp) as one of them.
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Post by cavocado on Dec 14, 2021 9:19:52 GMT
RSC tweeted yesterday that this is cancelled until 23rd due to Covid cases I took a few family members last week and we all enjoyed it - a nice alternative to a panto or other Christmas show. Jokes well done, lots of well-timed slaptick moments. It took me a while to get into it - I agree with dlevi that the production and design seemed a bit swamped by the Barbican stage, and I can see it would have worked better in an outdoor theatre, but it was still fun. Stalls looked about three quarters full.
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